


a pleasant chill in the air

by the_nerd_youre_looking_for



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Human, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hockey AU, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Self-Indulgent, Trans Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Trans Martin Blackwood, assume everybody is trans unless i say otherwise actually, author misses playing hockey, sports team au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:07:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25063609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_nerd_youre_looking_for/pseuds/the_nerd_youre_looking_for
Summary: Jon has never, will never, and makes no attempts to understand sports. It just wasn't his thing, as he preferred to take on quieter and safer hobbies. But when his friend, Georgie, joins a local hockey team, there's no way he isn't going to support her.Martin had always been interested in sports, especially hockey. But there was always just a lot happening so he never got the chance. So when his friends join a hockey team, there's no way he won't be watching.Neither of them planned to get adopted by the team, or fall in love, but that's how it is sometimes
Relationships: Georgie Barker/Melanie King, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Sasha James/Tim Stoker
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I miss hockey so I'm writing this. And I can't actually see Jon playing sports so he has been put in the Supportive Friend Zone

"See, it'll be on Saturdays, which is my usual day off! They'll let you rent equipment which is also great, plus it's very inclusive to everyone which is nice because usually people see hockey as some sort of rough boys' sport. Nice to see we'll get a bit of a mix." 

Georgie had been talking about the new hockey team since she saw the flier in the library two days ago. Jon, who had the terrible luck of being her friend and flatmate, was subject to most of the rambling. Excitement about it, nervousness about actually joining, all that. She'd fallen in love with the idea the second she read about it. It was going to operate out of the Alexandra Palace Ice Rink, which wasn't too far from where they lived, maybe a decent-length bus ride away. From what Jon understood, the people who joined would do practices and break into teams to play games against each other. It seemed more like a club than an actual team, but Georgie wouldn't like to hear it.

She'd tried to convince him of all people to sign up with her. In her own words, she "refused to do anything where she had to actually speak to new people", so she wanted a friend. Jon liked keeping his bones unbroken and his dignity intact so he refused very strongly. Georgie had always been the athletic one when they met in uni. She'd played basketball, football, and had a brief venture into roller derby which was where she got her signature pink buzzcut. Jon was lucky if he ran to class and mostly preferred to stage manage various school plays. Jon had managed to convince her to ask Melanie, her girlfriend and someone significantly more athletic, to join. It turned out to be a good idea as Melanie was almost as into it as Georgie.

"Hm, do you think I should?" Georgie flopped down on the couch next to Jon and sighed at the ceiling. "I mean, what if Mel doesn't even like it and I'm forcing her to? And what if it's just us for the ladies? Because you know that everyone thinks hockey is just for guys. And also they have been playing hockey for years."

Jon folded the page of his book over to mark his spot before closing it and putting it on the table. "I doubt experienced hockey players are going to join essentially adult Little League." He said. "And Melanie has been just as enthusiastic as you are. You'll clearly have a great time, so just go." 

"Little League is baseball." Georgie muttered, almost to herself. Then she groaned and covered her face with her hands. "I'll do it. I am excited, it's just..." She paused, letting Jon guess what "it" just was before shrugging. "You know? Haven't done sports since uni and definitely never did hockey."

Jon nodded and hummed thoughtfully. "You were on that roller derby team for a while." He pointed out. "That's fairly similar, in terms of aggression." He honestly couldn't say he understood the sport very well, but from the meets he'd gone to see, it all seemed very intense. And from the little he'd seen of hockey on the tv, it looked like the same amount of people shoving each other into walls. 

"Yeah, yeah, I guess." Georgie rolled her eyes. "I'm just gonna email them before I change my mind again." And with that, she stood up, grabbed her laptop, and sat down at the small kitchen table to compose her email. Three minutes later, she let out a breath and slammed the computer shut.

"How're you feeling? Wanna lie down?" Jon said dryly. He opened his book again, only to be jolted out of it a second later when something hit him in the side of the head. He looked up at Georgie, who was flipping him off, then on the floor in front of him. "If you took your socks off just to throw them at me, I'm going to kick you out." 

With a burst of quiet laughter, Georgie stood up and made her way back to the couch. "So what if I did, germaphobe?" She teased, picking her socks back up. "Serves you right for bullying me. Anyways, I'm gonna get ready for work since I have to leave in..." She pulled her phone out of her skirt pocket (which she was always thrilled about) to check the time. "Jesus, ten minutes." She hurried into her room, slamming the door behind her as usual.

Jon continued to read and generally ignore Georgie's rushing about for the next eight minutes, only looking up to say bye as she left for work and to throw his book at her (and miss) when she decided it was a great time for one of her goodbye noogies. Well, he thought, going to retrieve his book. He'd have to heat up something for when she got back later that night.

_____

The next evening, the Admiral was forced to put up with Georgie showing him pictures of her in all her hockey gear.

"Doesn't Mummy look super scary?" She cooed, kissing the cat on the top of his head. "Baby baby baby, I look all big and tough, huh?"

"You're going to give our son nightmares." Jon said, absentmindedly stroking the Admiral while also looking at Georgie's pictures. He wouldn't tell her, but all the gear did make her look pretty tough. But it wasn't like she _needed_ any extra help looking as tough as she was. 

Georgie scoffed and shut her phone off. "I got full custody when we broke up, he's only my son now." She scooped the Admiral up in her arms and carried him to the other end of the room. "Plus, _my_ son is very brave."

"That is a lie, we split custody!" Jon shouted. "Plus he loves me more so he'd be miserable if you got him all the time." Georgie's only response was to stick her tongue out and move to the kitchen. 

"Melanie's gonna be here in like a minute, so I'm gonna just heat something up for dinner. You want leftover Indian or some chicken nuggets?" She poked her head into the fridge and dug around the assortment of Tupperware they had stored there. 

"I'll eat later, it's fine." He responded, checking the time on his phone. At-home date nights weren't actually as terrible as he originally thought, but then again he was living with his ex again so maybe he just had a bad idea of what terrible things were. "Let the child down, he wants his dad now." 

Reluctantly, Georgie dropped a wriggling Admiral who, unfortunately, headed straight to his litter box. "I'm gonna microwave the duck donburi for you because you actually won't eat otherwise." She balanced three Tupperwares on top of each other and stuck them in the microwave. "You absolute ADHD nightmare." 

"Like you can say shit about that." Jon muttered, loud enough so he knew Georgie could hear him. However, she did not respond and there was a knock at the door before he could decide if he wanted to repeat it or not. 

Melanie invited herself in, as usual since Georgie gave her a spare key, with a "hey guys!". Georgie hurried over to give her a quick peck on the lips before the microwave started beeping and she had to rush off. "I see we're having a five star dinner tonight." 

"You know it!" Georgie laughed. She balanced the containers on top of each other and scurried into the living room to drop them all on the table. "They're pretty hot. Jon's got the donburi, I'm the pasta, you get the veggie dumplings." 

"Aw sick." Melanie sat down on the couch and toed her boots off. "Jonny here always says he's gonna cook for us one day, when's that happening?" She reached for her container, ignoring the heat of it. "I'm starting to think he's a liar." 

"You haven't earned it yet." Jon said dryly, smiling when Melanie barked out a laugh. "But seriously, we just never have the ingredients for anything good." 

"Man makes a mean mutabbaq." Georgie squeezed herself between the two of them and dropped a handful of plastic silverware on the table. "One day he'll love us." Jon responded to that by throwing a fork at her (gently, since he didn't want to actually hurt her).

The night continued pretty regularly for an at-home date night. Melanie and Georgie talked about their YouTube channel and podcast, and they all watched the new episode of Ghost Hunt UK. Melanie hit Jon in the arm for being a skeptic about how much of the ghosts were actually real, which wasn't as effective since she had to reach across Georgie to get to him. After that, Melanie put on _Mulan_ , only to pause it about six minutes in because Jon and Georgie got into an excited discussion about the Great Wall of China. They only stopped after ten minutes when Melanie asked if they still wanted to watch the movie, and they did. Jon decided to call it a night after the movie, only so the two girls could have some time by themselves. It _was_ still their date. 

The Admiral was sleeping on his bed, which Jon took a couple pictures of to show Georgie in the morning. Obviously he was the favorite parent. He took his hair out of its ponytail and got pajamas on, which was mostly sweatpants and some old ratty shirt he should've thrown away a year ago. Maneuvering his way into his bed without waking the Admiral, his mind went back to Melanie and Georgie's comments for some reason, about how he said he'd cook for them some day. He did keep saying that. Jon liked cooking for people, especially if it was actually good food and not something generic. He'd have to get the stuff for mutabbaq before next at-home date night. He fell asleep still thinking about it, and things to substitute the meat with for Melanie. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon goes to watch the first practice and makes some friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well anyway! now for the actual hockey in the hockey au dhjdd  
> I do not actually know the interior of the Alexandra Palace Ice Rink as I am American and so have never been so I'm just gonna make shit up

Melanie hadn't wanted Jon to come along to their first practice. Jon, of course, had wanted to come, just to see what was up with the team and to get a hang of some of the basic mechanisms of the sport, just so he would understand what was going on at the games. Georgie had been pretty alright with it, although she had threatened his life if he made fun of them for falling or something like it. And Melanie...did not want him there. Jon wasn't sure if she was joking or not when she griped about him tagging along with them too much. On one hand, she was sort of smiling, and on the other, Jon did not know where he stood with Melanie. She seemed to sort of always be annoyed with him, but sometimes she was alright. She was very confusing and he didn't like to spend much time alone with her because of all that. 

Either way, Georgie had told her she was being rude and said it was alright if he wanted to come along, so he did. And that's how he had ended up squished between Georgie's big bag for all her hockey equipment and Melanie on the tube to Alexandra Palace Ice Rink. It was a bit awkward, especially when Georgie and Melanie talked across him about how the new What The Ghost was being an issue with audio editing. Jon did not know enough about audio editing to jump into that conversation and he let out a sigh of relief when they reached their station. 

"These bags are so fucking heavy, what the hell!" Melanie griped, lugging her bag down the street. She'd apparently opted for a shoulder-strap one, and was glaring at Georgie, who had one with wheels and a handle. "And don't you give me any sass, young lady." 

Georgie smiled smugly and pulled her bag ahead of the group. "Me? Never." She said sweetly. "I'm very lovely and also smart." She glanced back at Melanie's mock scowl and batted her eyes innocently. 

"I'm gonna knock you on the ice, you suck." Melanie caught up to her girlfriend and kissed her quickly on the cheek. They both laughed a little and Melanie went back to groaning about her bag. 

Jon huffed out a laugh from behind them, shoving his hands into his coat pockets. Maybe Melanie had a point about him tagging along. He did spend a good amount of time with them both but that was mostly because he didn't know anybody else that well. And Jon had never prided himself on his social skills and ability to make new friends. He sighed a quietly and shook his head. There was a chance he would meet someone at the practices, even if he was now starting to think he shouldn't come along to every practice. And that would be nice, he thought, to be friends with someone besides his ex and his ex's girlfriend who didn't like him much. Jon shook his head again. No, this wasn't a social thing, this was so he could support his friends. Besides, he doesn't pride himself on his social skills. 

_____

The ice rink was, predictably, chilly. Melanie and Georgie got some directions to find out where they would be changing into their gear and meeting up, said a quick "see ya later" to Jon, and went off. This left Jon, pulling his coat closer to him, wandering around to where the seats were. The actual practice didn't start for about 15 more minutes (Georgie and Jon had stressed the importance of being early to Melanie, who literally didn't care) and he didn't want to sit around longer than needed. So, he stood by the walls of the ice rink and watched who he assumed to be the coaches setting things up. They both were...definitely not who he would've expected. One was a middle-aged man wearing his blond hair in a ponytail that looked far too pompous to be here. The other was a small elderly woman who looked like was old enough to be Jon's grandpa. He huffed out a quiet laugh, wondering what the team might look like if the coaches were that weird. 

He didn't have to wait too long to find out, as before long people began to filter into the benches on the other side of the rink. The team was definitely varied. There was a tall woman with short obnoxiously red hair, a very intimidating and muscular man who _definitely_ looked to be the hockey type, two people who probably weren't related but had the same stretched out look to them that it was hard to imagine them not being. After a few more people had joined on the bench, Jon decided he might as well sit down. There weren't that many people, and they mostly were sat in the same area. Jon absolutely did not know any of them and his eyes darted around, trying to find an acceptable spot. He settled on two-to-the-left-of-ginger-in-the-jumper and in-front-of-middle-aged-professor-type-man. The man in the jumper (which was a very bright blue, Jon noticed) smiled and waved at him. Jon awkwardly returned the gesture, and felt grateful the man behind him hadn't felt the need. He had not really intended on talking to people during this. 

However, the man next to him seemed to be more than just a little bit friendly. "So, uh," He said softly, smiling politely over at Jon. "Are you here with friends or...or kids, or..." He trailed off with a shrug. 

Jon furrowed his brow and blinked a few times. "Kids?" He repeated. "I'm not old enough to have kids this age, what...oh." He pointed at his temple with a weary smile. "Gray hair?" 

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I just thought...I'm sorry, yeah, gray hairs." The man balled his hands up on his lap and seemed to cringe at himself. "I'm sorry."

Jon shook his head, feeling a bit out of his depth. "No, no, it's fine, happens a lot." He tried for his best reassuring smile, which seemed to work some. "Uh, yeah, just here with some friends. You?" 

"Yeah, me too. Plus I'm their ride back, so." The man shrugged, seeming slightly more at ease with the topic change. "I'm, uh...I'm Martin." 

"Jon." He said, nodding a little. Jon didn't make an effort to continue the conversation and Martin seemed alright with that. He seemed...nice, Jon thought. A little bit too chatty for his tastes. A bit annoying. He almost wishes he'd chosen to sit by the older couple a few rows back, who seemed to be a bit quieter and less conversational. He especially wished this when the man behind him also decides to try and talk with them. 

"There's my son, just coming in." He leaned down a bit and pointed at the tall man who'd just sat down. He was pulling his jet black hair up in a ponytail, and even from across the way Jon noticed a heavy amount of black makeup. He looked back up at the man behind him (blond hair, slightly balding, short, looked like a history professor). 

Martin had also apparently noticed the difference. "I'm guessing he looks more like his mother?" He said with a laugh. 

"Not really, actually!" The professor-type-man said, a flash of...something crossing his face. "He just dyes the hair. Eric Delano." He held out his hand in their directions. 

Jon shook his hand first, making it as quick as possible. "Jon Sims." He said flatly, and turned back to the rink. Martin and Eric chatted for a while longer, but Jon tuned it out. He wished he'd brought his headphones. Luckily for him, the practice had started and everyone was more focused on that.

There was an echo in the ice rink, especially so because of how empty it was, so Jon found it hard to make out what anyone was saying. The coaches talked with everyone for a while, most likely just going over some rules and such, and then they worked on what he assumed were the basics. He found Georgie and Melanie on the ice easy enough, and he waved to them while they were doing laps around the rink or something. Melanie looked to be getting frustrated by the repetitive drills, especially the one where they had to skate quickly for a distance, fall to the ice, and repeat for a good while. Georgie seemed to be in a better mood and was chatting with the others. For all her anxieties, she'd always been very good with people. 

As it turns out that watching practices isn't all that exciting. Except for the part where someone shoved over the really tall blond man and he got pissed off over it. And the fact that both of the coaches seemed to hate each other's guts. Jon found that all pretty interesting, but other than that not much happened. They did some drills, had a water break, the coaches talked a bit, repeat. The seating wasn't much different. Eric would sometimes mutter "ouch" or "ooh, nice" to himself, Martin was typing something on his phone, and the couple in the back were still just sitting there. Jon let out a sigh and brought a hand to his glasses to tap on its temples. By the time it was over, he felt like a month had passed rather than an hour. 

Jon let out a sigh of relief and got up to wait for Melanie and Georgie. He leaned against the wall around the rink, kicking it gently, and kept an eye on the people trickling in and out of the locker rooms. He noticed the couple get up and head over that way, probably to collect somebody. Eric's tall goth son strode past Jon, lugging a bag behind him. Jon glanced over at Martin, who'd put his phone down and looked to be waiting for his friends to come over. 

"Hey you!" Jon jumped as Melanie slung her arm around his shoulders. "How'd you enjoy getting to watch us skate in a circle for a year?"

"One of the most interesting things I've seen today." He said with a small smile. "How'd you enjoy getting to skate in a circle for a year?"

Melanie let go of him and leaned against the wall next to him. "Shit." She said without much anger behind her words. "I mean, I get it's the basics and all, but really? Learning to fall? I can do that, but Coach Robinson said we had to know _how_ to fall so we don't break ourselves, and I thought that was what all the padding was for but whatever." She pressed her lips together for a moment before relaxing slightly. "It's boring."

Jon nodded along, letting her blow off steam. "Which one is Coach Robinson?" He asked. "I couldn't really catch the introductions."

"Oh, she's the old lady who looks like she'll fall down at a hard breeze but I think she could bench press any of us." Melanie pointed across the rink, where said old lady was packing up some equipment. "The prissy one is Coach Bouchard and I cannot stand that man." He was just coming out of the locker rooms, and Jon could see why she might be annoyed by him. "I've known him all of one hour and I want to hit him so hard in the face."

"Yeah, I can see it." Jon laughed. "He just looks annoying." He took another look at the small crowd drifting out. "Where'd Georgie run off too?"

"She was just using the bathroom, should be here in a minute." Melanie pushed the handle down and took a seat on her bag, seemingly done with the conversation. 

Jon turned around to face the rink and, for whatever reason, spared one more glance across the way at Martin. He was joined by two others, who Jon assumed were his friends. A woman with red plaid-pattered trousers and dreadlocks pulled up in a bun handed off her rolling bag to Martin and climbed up his back so he was carrying her. A handsome man with dark hair and bright blue eyeshadow hung dramatically off his arm, loudly talking about something or other that Jon couldn't hear. They were all smiling, and when Jon looked back down at Melanie quietly scrolling on her phone, he felt a coil of...something twist up his gut. But he shoved it down the second he saw Georgie waving at them, because Jonathan Sims has never prided himself on his ability to deal with his emotions.

_____

"Jon, I have _so_ much to tell you about this team and I've known them for all of an hour, holy shit." Georgie called from the living room. "Like Jared? Literally cannot understand a word that man says."

Jon shot another glare at his mess of a bun in the bathroom mirror before letting the bobby pins between his teeth fall out and took his hair out of the rubber band. "Which one's he?" He asked, pulling his hair into an easier ponytail. Why his hair decided to not cooperate _today_ was a mystery. 

"Big, mountain of a man." Georgie said. "He has such a deep voice. Plus Helen and Michael, the tall ones? They're so weird, I swear. Michael's the blond one and Helen's got the afro." She added on for Jon's benefit mostly. "Jude shoved Michael down, that was funny. Jude's tiny but she's so scary, I swear she's probably hid a dead body before." 

Jon laughed quietly and buttoned up his work shirt. "Well, at least it sounds like it won't be boring. What's the schedule like?" He asked, coming into the living room. 

"Practices every Saturday at four and 'games' will be Sunday evenings." She stopped petting The Admiral for a moment to make air quotes. "Plus Coach Bouchard says we'll be doing pizza dinners the nights before games so that's fun."

"Oh I'll definitely go to those." Jon crouched down to kiss The Admiral on the top of his head. "I'll see you two after work."

"Don't I get a kiss goodbye?" Georgie whined, a smile clear in her voice. That was something Jon liked about her, she made it very clear when she was just screwing around. 

"No. The Admiral is the only one who deserves it." He waved goodbye on his way to the door and she flipped him off with a laugh. Georgie was very easy to be friends with, Jon thought. He'd only gotten back in touch with her a few years ago and it was like they'd never stopped talking. 

_____

The tube commute to Magnus Books is as dull as always, and it's over in what seems like a minute. Jon grabbed a muffin from a corner cafe as a sort-of dinner and eats it on his walk down the road. Magnus Books had a sort of sentimental value to him, as he had plenty of memories of going to small bookshops like it as a child. They used to be a calming place for him when things at school or home were a bit too much, so it was nice to be able to work at one. However, it was definitely far from calming these days, especially when one of the first things you see inside is your coworker nearly falling off a ladder. 

"Oh, hey Jon." Mike called down. He was hanging up some sort of decorations from the ceiling. "You wanna help me with this?"

Jon finished the last of his muffin and shook his head. "Let me clock in first, geez." He muttered. "You're going to fall off."

Mike laughed and shrugged. "I haven't yet!" He pumped his fist, which made Jon's heart beat that much faster. "That's probably why they always make me do this." 

Jon shook his head again and went to clock in and drop his stuff off in the back. Mike Crew was, for lack of a better word, one of the more interesting people he's ever met. Generally very calm and polite, but a bit of a secret adrenaline junkie. It ranged from things like intense horror movies to cliff diving, and that's just what he's told Jon. 

The bookshop was very nearly empty, so Jon took some time to hold the ladder for Mike and hand him the colorful little balls they were apparently hanging up. He wasn't sure why except that every so often the place did a bit of "freshening up" to stay somewhat relevant. They usually did some display of new books by big authors, which drew in some people, and the little cafe in the back of the shop didn't hurt. But it was definitely a bit of a challenge for a small bookshop to get a lot of customers. 

"Oh, saw you around today." Mike said, climbing down the ladder once they'd finished decorating the children's section. 

Jon adjusted his grip on the box and furrowed his brow. "Really? Where?"

"At the hockey thing." Mike dragged the ladder over to the cafe. "I'm doing that. Saw you in the seats but I didn't know if you wanted me to go and say hi. There with Georgie?"

"Yeah, and Melanie." Jon nodded. "You didn't tell me you were doing that. Sounded interesting, from what I've heard."

Mike shrugged and set the ladder down. "Didn't really come up." He started climbing back up, to which Jon responded by gripping the bottom of the ladder tightly. "And yeah, there's definitely some....real characters there. Daisy nearly threw me through the glass." 

Jon winced in sympathy. "Ouch. Melanie mentioned-" He stopped suddenly as their supervisor, Jane, called to him from the back. 

"Hey, you mind setting up the new Leitner books?" She held up a large cardboard box as if to show them off. "The table up front is cleared off and there's a sign in the box." 

"This guy's still writing?" Mike laughed, to which Jane shrugged. "How old is he now, ninety?" 

"Must be." Jon groaned. "Can't believe people still buy his junk." He'd only read one of Leitner's books himself, and since it had given him severe arachnophobia, he'd decided to never read any more of the man's shitty horror novels. 

Mike shrugged and reached down for the box of decorations. "I kinda like them. _Ex Altiora_ , one of his older ones, that's my favorite. But there's other good ones." He smirked down at Jon, who glared pointedly at him. "I mean, maybe now that you're not literally eight years old you might like them." 

"I highly doubt it." He snapped, and went to go get the box of books. Jon made a small noise as he picked it up and had to grip tightly at the corners to make sure he didn't drop it. The box was definitely full, and it was mercifully a short walk over to the front. He set it down with a heavy "oof" and grabbed the box cutter from the table. The books were black with red lettering and Jon rolled his eyes at the lack of creativity there. A short skimming of the summary told him that this was about a book that told you how you would die, which he really didn't see how you could get a plot from. But he couldn't account for other people's terrible taste in literature. 

Jon had set up the sign and a couple short stacks of books around it when the bell chimed behind him, signaling someone's entry. He allowed himself half a second of irritation at being annoyed before putting on his customer service face and turning to face the customer. "Hello, welcome to Magnus-" he stopped short as the red hair and blue jumper clicked themselves into recognition. Jon really did not want people he knew at his place of work, even if he really barely knew them. 

"Oh." Martin looked just as surprised as Jon felt. "Funny running into you here."

"Isn't it." Jon nodded stiffly. "Can I help you with anything?" He decided to stick with straight professionalism, he really did barely know Martin after all. 

Martin just stood in the doorway and fiddled with his round glasses. "Uh, I don't think so, thanks." He said. "And, um, about earlier today, I'm-"

"I don't _care_ , I told you it's fine." Maybe Jon's voice came out a bit harsher than he meant it, but this man was getting on his nerves. First he decides to just strike up conversation when he was fairly sure he was clear he didn't want to talk, and now he wanted...what? To do it again? "Look, if you're just here to apologize again, I'm going to ask you to leave. If not, then I have work to be doing." He gestured at the box of books at his feet. 

"Oh, no, no, sorry." Martin shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm...you know, here for books. I'll just...sorry. See you around maybe?" 

Jon didn't bother to respond to that, just turned back to the task at hand and listened as Martin walked away. Maybe he'd been a bit rude, but honestly. What was he supposed to think about it? He can't say he remembered seeing Martin here before and it was definitely weird that he'd shown up and apologized right away. It _was_ probably just a coincidence, but still. He sighed at the thought that he probably _would_ be seeing him around, if he kept going to the practices like he'd planned. Great. 

_____

_sexy bitches gc_

**Martin "Kommits Arson" Blackwood:** guys fuck djdjd :( 

  
**Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** ok Martin Storytime everyone im suffering :(

 **hotboy!:** ooh oh boy ok

 **local braincell:** :eyes emoji: I am listening 

**Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** alright so we all know magnus bookshop yes? lovely place, nice selection of books, cafe makes a sick chai latte,,,,a lovely calming place for me

 **Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** so i went there to see if they had anything and hey maybe i would get a chai latte theyre good :(

 **Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** and so i get there

 **Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** and i go in

 **Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** and do you know who works there????

 **local braincell:** Im on the edge of my seat rn martin 

**Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** jon from hockey!!!!!!!!! dsjsdj!!! :(

 **hotboy!:** oh nooooo dhjd that's rough 

**hotboy!:** and after u gave us a 99 message rant abt him and everything 

**Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** i think he thought i was stalking him or something :(

 **local braincell:** oh hockey dilf?

 **hotboy!:** SASHA DSJDJDSND I LOVE U 

**hotboy!:** sasha i am coming into the living room to kiss u for that 

**Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** NOOOO SASHA 

**Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** hes not a dilf hes like my age!!! 

**local braincell** : lmao he just kissed me fr 

**hotboy!:** u thought he was a dilf 

**Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** im going to kommit arson on ur houses >:(

 **local braincell:** Same house buddy 

**local braincell:** Wait why did he think youre stalking him?? Martin???

 **Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** well idk i wasnt expecting him there so i panicked and apologized for calling him old and i think he thought i was just there to do that

 **hotboy!:** martin,,did he at least recognize u bcus thatd be hella creepy if not jndsjnd

 **Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** yeah he did,,,he made a face like >:/ at me 

**Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** i dont think he likes me :( 

**local braincell:** Awww you just met him! Bad first impressions, its ok. Im sure he'll warm up to you :) 

**hotboy!:** i wanna meet this mystery man, martin lmk when ur going there next so i can tag along

 **hotboy!:** i'll try to look ugly so all eyes will be on u 

**local braincell:** "try" lmao

 **Martin "Kommits" Arson Blackwood:** try???

 **hotboy!:** fuckk off i hate u guys im crying rn :(

 **local braincell:** No he isnt, dont believe his lies martin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obsessed with Tim/Martin/Sasha being all over each other w/casual platonic affection it makes my heart go :)  
> i had to do martin pov i had to my hands were tied. "hotboy!" is tim and "local braincell" is sasha. yes they r all roommates :)
> 
> also i've never worked at a bookshop only food service so jon will talk like a waiter bcus i dont know how else to do it lmao

**Author's Note:**

> apologies for the lack of actual uh hockey in the first chapter of tma hockey au, we will get there dhkdjksd
> 
> nothing says true friendship like chucking shit at each other


End file.
